Hogar is a half-orc Beastmaster Ranger on a quest to destroy Orcus the Demon Prince of the Undead. This is his journal, recounting the exploits of Hogar and his companions on their quest.

15th Day of Meloramensis – Part I

Hogar’s Journal
(Translated from Giant)

Year 781 of the
founding of the City

15th
Day of Meloramensis – Part I

Thunderspire Mountain – Silverkin
Manor

I awoke face down
on a cold stone floor. I opened my right
eye and saw nothing but pale blurred white light. Gradually this coalesced into grey flagstones
and a wooden chair leg, all masked by a screen of unruly hair. I tried to draw breath. As I did so something caught in my throat and
induced a coughing fit. As my body shook
and juddered white hot needles of pain lanced into my eyeballs, phlegm flew
from my lips and snot dribbled from my nose.
Carefully I placed the palms of both hands on the flagstones and pushed
myself up. A gentle suction resisted the
separation of my left cheek from the stone floor. As I prised myself upwards I felt something
drip from my face to the ground. Turning
my head I noticed some stew or broth or something in a puddle where I had been
lay; generously cut bits of turnip or carrot in a thin sauce. I drew in a breath to let out a groan on
behalf of my aching head and the acid tang of vomit invaded my nostrils,
betraying the substance for what it truly was. I could only hope that it was in fact my own.

The smell made me choke and
retch. I rolled into a sitting position
to get away from it. Placing my head in
my hands I started to run my fingers through my hair and had to stop when the
resistance of encrusted vomit halted progress.
I became aware of sound. A low
bass thrum, rhythmic in its intonation.
Singing in a male voice. Glen’s
voice.

“Oooh… a course lass she was,

lewd and abrupt.

She jumped upon me,

And right there we fu…”

“Glen!” I interrupted, my face still
buried in my hands. “Could you please, please be quiet?”

“Orkshpawn!” he exclaimed. “Yourrup!
Hadda hav a little resht, resht, resht…”
I peered up through my fingers to see him sat atop the table, boisterously
waving about a tankard in his left hand, liberally spraying the room with foamy
beer. There is no more sure sign that a
dwarf is drunk than when he spills beer without mourning the loss. In his lap was a small barrel of beer which
he caressed like a mother with a new-born babe.
. “Hadda hav a resht there
didya?” He raised the tankard to his
lips and took a deep, long draught.

It was difficult to tell what time
it was. Jacob had boarded the windows of
his mansion up long before we ever came here and Glen’s friends Bob and Eric
had not seen fit to open them up in the time they had stayed here since. A halo of light surrounded the thick timbers
boarding the aperture up, highlighting the motes of dust that danced about in
the ancient room. The sun was up but how
long it had been so I could not tell.
The permanent gloom of the place was held at bay by a myriad of candles;
on candelabra’s adorning the massive table, in sconces and in a large and grand
chandelier suspended from the high ceiling.
Their dancing light illuminated a table strewn with platters of leftover
food, overturned tankards, dirty plates and one raucous drunken dwarf.

“What time is it?”

“Lllong past the time I drunk you
under the table ranger. Llllllong past! Here,” he plonked the barrel on the table
with a thud and began to fill a tankard with foamy ale. “have another.”

“Don’t you think we’ve had enough?”

“Well he certainly has.” Glen gestured to the other side of the
table.

I
stood to get a better view. Lying flat
on his back on the cold stone floor was Minron.
He was fast asleep with his mouth open and his tongue lolling out to one
side. His right leg twitched
occasionally as he gently snored away.
Glen hopped off the table and marched up to Minron to try and awaken him
with the toe of his boot. The big
minotaur rocked gently from side to side completely oblivious to the dwarf’s
efforts. Undeterred Glen placed his
tankard on the table with the exceptional care of the steaming drunk and
stooped to try and lift Minron to his feet.
I turned away in search of water just as Rodney entered the room.

“You
three are still at it are you?”

“Just
the one but he’s very persistent.” I said nodding towards Glen. “What time is
it?”

“About
a quarter of an hour after dawn. I hope
you’re all going to be ready to hunt some displacer beasts.”

“Jacob
has a cure for Eligos does he?”

“Yes
but we need to go and get a few things for him, displacer beast tentacles being
one of them.”

“When
do we leave?”

“Jacob
is gathering a few things for us and then we’ll be off.”

“You
hear that dwarf?” I called over my shoulder. “I hope you can sit straight in
your saddle.” There was no
response. I turned to see Glen nesteld
into the mighty shoulder of Minron, sound asleep, a faint smile curling at the
corner of his mouth.

“Perhaps
we should just collect those two on our way out.” Rodney suggested.

I trudged outside
to the well to clean the worst of the previous night’s excesses from my
person. Suitably refreshed I made my way
to the library to find out how the preparations were going. I pushed through the doors and stopped short
as I strode into a goblin clad in boiled leather armour that lurked just inside
the entryway.

“It would be sensible for you to
stand to the side of the doorway.” I grumbled after colliding with him. “You must
be this Splug I have heard mention of.”

“There are a few gaps.” I admitted. “It was a pleasure to meet you I’m sure. In future when you skulk try to do it
somewhere out of the way.”

“Yeth thir.”

Rodney, Eligos and Krevath were
gathered around a desk in the corner of the library. At the desk there lounged Jacob Silverkin and
at his shoulder stood the elf Eric.

“I have gathered provisions enough
to last you for a few days.” The old lord intoned. “I would suggest that you
head into the forest in search of displacer beasts first and make haste at
that. You will soon become the hunted if
you try to track down displacer beasts at night.

Ah!” he broke of his lecture as he
noticed my approach. “the belligerent one has awoken. I trust that you gave your comrade a good
send off?”

“From what I recall it was suitable
enough. Are our plans all set out?”

“You are all set to go. I need a displacer beast tentacle, some hydra
scales and some glowing moss. I have
marked the likely locations of these on your map and I have some items which
you might find useful.” He slid open a desk draw and took out a scroll, some leaves
and a metal lantern.

“Leaves?” Krivath asked. “What are they for?”

“To help you find hydra of
course! This is a treatise on how to
track displacer beasts,” he passed the scroll to me, “and this will light your
way.” He gave the lantern to Rodney. “Now hurry! You must go whilst you have the light.”

Despite our protestations and
confusion the old man would discuss no more and ushered us out of the room.

“Rook.” I called on my way out. “Are
you coming?”

Busy
came his curt reply.

We
left the library, walked out of the front door and headed towards the
stables. There a grumpy looking Minron
and disconcertingly spry looking Glen awaited us having been collected by Splug.

“I’m afraid there’s just no dealing
with Jacob sometimes.” Eric advised us. “When he gets set on a train of thought
there is no diverting him, you just have to go with it. You shouldn’t have any trouble locating the
forest, you can see it in the distance from here look, just on the other side
of the Ogrfist Hills.”

“I can navigate my way over a hill
to a forest.” I told him curtly.

“I’m sure you can but just in case
you have any problems Splug is going to join you. He, Bob and I have done some exploring around
here and his local knowledge may be of use to you.”

We set off, heading south under a
looming grey blanket of cloud. A stiff
breeze whipped over the plains from the mountains to the west and the air had
the crisp smell of impending rain.
Before we had gone an hour flecks of water began to fall building first
into a fine mist and then into a stinging downpour. For most of the daylight hours, or what
passed for daylight under that low thick sky, we tramped over wet scrubby
grassland. I let Splug direct us as I
took any opportunity available to scrutinise the scroll Jacob had given me. To the old man’s credit it did contain some
useful information on how to track displacer beasts.

The
grey light had started to take on purple hues as we entered the shelter of the
forest canopy. Rain hissed upon leaves
of all colours from verdant green to brittle brown and darkness began to creep
all around us but still I could find no sign of our quarry. Eventually, through the increasing gloom I
noticed tell-tale scratches on a tree stump.
There were unmistakable tracks nearby, so clear and so freshly left that
we had a chance to find the creature before night truly set in.

Splug
had demonstrated that he was the only other member of the group capable of
moving quietly so he and I moved off ahead of the rest of the group, leaving behind
markers for the rest of them to follow.
Quickly the trees began to thin out as we moved onto more rocky
ground. We made our way from tree to
outlying tree towards a sheer rock face about ten feet in height. We crept up to the last tree before a large
pool of water that crossed our path. A
day of rainfall had turned the shallow layer of earth and moss beneath our feet
into a sodden marsh. As the marsh
disappeared into the pool of water so too did the tracks vanish.

This
did not prove to be an issue as a feline roar drew our attention to the top of
the plateau where a large male sat preening himself in the rain seemingly
oblivious to our presence. The beast was
largely obscured by the sides of the platform upon which he rested. I signalled for Splug to wait whilst I
proceed to climb the tree in search of a clear shot at the creature. The tree was old, its trunk and branches
thick. Hand and footholds were not
difficult to come by and the fierce wind did not cause it to sway over much. I attained a point, near to the crown, where
I could stand steady, see the beast clearly, draw my bow to its fullest extent
and was still hidden behind a reassuring curtain of foliage.

As
I drew back the slick black feline was stretched flat on the ground industriously
licking at its left forepaw. Two
tentacles protruded from its back just beneath the shoulder blades. They draped down his flanks on opposite sides,
curled around behind his rump and crossed each other over his tail. They then lay alongside each of the beasts
flanks coming to an end either side of his head. On the end of each appendage was a flat leaf
shaped pad, the inside of each serrated with countless needle sharp points.

I
loosed my arrow and it flew straight and true towards the beast’s heart. But rather than strike home it thudded into
the dirt. The creature, or what I had
thought to be the creature seemed to flicker and I caught the briefest glimpse
of the beast’s genuine location a little way to one side. Cursing myself as a fool for forgetting that
these beasts are able to disguise themselves with illusion I drew another arrow
ready to strike again. As I did so a
commotion sounded in the forest behind us.
It was Minron and the dwarf blundering their way through the trees
making enough noise to wake the dead from their slumber.

The
displacer beast sprang to attention upon hearing this noise. But rather than set eyes upon the
perpetrators he fixed his gaze upon Splug at the foot of my tree. With astonishing speed the creature rose to
its feet and bounded across the seventy feet or so that separated him the
goblin. Within no more than a couple of
seconds he was upon Splug, throwing himself from the height of the plateau in a
snarling, frenzied attack. The creature
must have been savouring the prospect of tasting goblin blood. I had already written the goblin off as dead,
but Splug did not meekly wait for the attack to come. In one fluid movement he drew his short blade
and leapt forward to meet the attack.
This bold action caught the beast, and everyone else, by surprise, it
roared in pain and anguish as the goblin’s blade sunk into its flank up to the
hilt.

As
Splug danced away from the beast, Minron came barrelling into the fray closely
followed by the rest of my companions.
The displacer beast managed to avoid their attacks and retreated a few
steps. Blood dripped from the puncture
mark where Splug’s blade had bitten deep. The beast raised its muzzle and
roared, long and loud towards the sky.
Lower pitched calls answered his from the gloom of the forest. Fallen leaves rustled to the rhythm of
footsteps and two smaller female beasts padded into the clearing to surround
us.

Glen
and Rodney tried to attack these new arrivals but were foiled by the flickering
illusions that they cast. For his
troubles Rodney was lashed repeatedly by the tentacles of the two
newcomers. A flurry of strikes left the
mage dazed and bloodied. Eligos and Glen
both rushed to his aid. Eligos charged
into the nearest beast and knocked her flat before continuing into the second
and lashing it with her flail. Glen
followed up close behind and chopped his ugrosh down into the prone beast. Before the downed creature could raise
herself in search of revenge Slug was upon her with a dagger in each hand. His arms were a barely distinguishable blur
as he stabbed the hapless creature countless times. When the goblin paused to draw breath the
beast was dead.

Whilst
this was going on I loosed my second arrow at the large male. Splug’s attack seemed to have dispelled the
illusion that protected him and this time the arrow struck home. It jolted in surprise at the attack from an
unseen opponent. Its head spun around
and its eyes locked onto mine. Whilst it
was distracted a burst of energy from Rodney struck him full in the side and
sent the creature staggering. Krevath
followed Rodney’s spell with a fireball of his own that singed the fur from the
beasts hide. The flames had not yet
cleared when Minron charged into the beast.
The large male lashed out a spiked tentacle in an instinctual act of
defence. Minron tried to block it with
his dragon-tooth shield but such was the impact of the lashing tentacle meeting
the charging minotaur that the shield flapped uselessly to one side. The spikes continued towards Minron and raked
viciously across his shoulder and neck.
Undeterred Minron crashed into the beast and thrust his sword into its
side. Minotaur and displacer beast
crashed to the ground in a tangle of limbs.
As it came to rest in the sodden moss I sent an arrow into the beast’s
side for good measure. As the beast lay
on the ground dazed, breathless and bleeding, Splug sauntered up to it and
buried his blade in its gullet. The
beast did not make so much as a sound as the life drained from it to mix with
the water now pooling on the stony ground.

The last female was circling warily
around Eligos and eying the rest of us with a mixture of fear and
loathing. The spectral figure or a ram’s
head slammed unceremoniously into the beast’s side closely followed by a
fireball. As the creature reeled from
these she suddenly found Minron’s longsword protruding from her neck, the
deadly result of another attack from my charge-happy minotaur friend.

With all of the beasts dead we had
more tentacles than we could have hoped for.
Glen set about the grizzly task of separating them from their previous
owners and stowing them away.

“You did well.” I said to Splug as I
dropped from the tree. “Quite some reflexes you have there.”

“Thplug is grateful for your praithe
mathter Hogar.” He replied with a fawning
bow. “Thplug hath had to dodge many attackths in hith life.”

“Really? I do find that surprising, you seem such a
charming little creature. Come on, we
have hydra to hunt.”